The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to laparoscopic tools and, more particularly, but not exclusively, enhancements of shafts connecting laparoscopic tool heads to laparoscopic tool handles.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0298774 A1 presents, with reference to its FIG. 23 inter alia, methods by which a distal portion of a shaft of a laparoscopic tool may penetrate (e.g. by puncture) into a body cavity such as the abdominal cavity, traverse a portion of the cavity, exit the cavity through a trocar installed in a wall of the cavity, and while outside the cavity be joined with a laparoscopic tool head. The distal portion of the shaft with its tool head may then be withdrawn through the trocar into the cavity, used there to operate on a tissue, re-extended through the trocar for exchange or removal of the operating tool head, and eventually withdrawn through the entrance wound and removed from the cavity entirely at the end of the operation.
The method there describe presents numerous advantages, one being the avoidance of multiple large wounds to the cavity wall, since in many cases a procedure can be accomplished using a single trocar and a small puncture wound for passage of the tool shaft.
The present application presents embodiments designed to facilitate such procedures.